The Sant'Omobono Area (Italian: ''Area di Sant'Omobono'') is an archaeological site in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

next to the church of

Sant'Omobono Sant'Omobono is a church in Rome at the foot of the Capitoline Hill in rione Ripa. It was built in the 15th century and called ''San Salvatore in Portico''. When the church was given to the "Università dei Sarti" (the association of tailors) in ...

, at the junction of via L. Petroselli and the Vico Jugario at the foot of the

Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...

. It was discovered in 1937 and contains much important evidence for

archaic Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently: *List of archaeological periods **Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...

and

republican Rome The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman King ...

. It contains altars and the sites of the temple of

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until ...

and the temple of

Mater Matuta Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora, and the Greek goddess Eos. Her cult is attested several places in Latium; her most famous temple was located at Satricum. In Ro ...

. An earlier archaic-period temple underlies these two, dating itself to the early 6th century

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

, making it the oldest known temple remains in Rome. The temples and their sanctuaries lie between the

Forum Holitorium The Forum Holitorium ( it, Foro Olitorio; en, Vegetable-sellers' Market) is an archaeological area of Rome, Italy, on the slopes of the Capitoline Hill. It was "oddly located" outside the Porta Carmentalis in the Campus Martius, crowded between t ...

and the

Forum Boarium The Forum Boarium (, it, Foro Boario) was the cattle ''forum venalium'' of ancient Rome. It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Ro ...

. , the archaeological site is under re-investigation by a joint team from the Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali of the Comune di Roma, the Università della Calabria, and the University of Michigan. The site of Sant'Omobono is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentalization,

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period.

References

Bibliography

*Filippo Coarelli, ''Guida archeologica di Roma'', Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Verona 1984. *Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli and Mario Torelli, ''L'arte dell'antichità classica'', Etruria-Roma, Utet, Torino 1976. Archaeological sites in Rome Rome R. XII Ripa {{AncientRome-stub